Hi Michael,
Along with my electric 30' ketch, I own an F-27 trimaran. I needed to replace the 8hp 2-stroke outboard a while back and seriously considered going electric. In the end I installed a Tohatsu 9.8 4-stroke (lighter, more powerful, cheaper, simpler, readily available, more range, etc.), I wasn't willing to take the performance hit for going electric, even using lithium like on my ketch. As an offshore racer, my local multihull racing regs state:
"6.11 Auxiliary propulsion: Sufficient power and fuel for the boat to achieve a speed equal to the square root of her waterline, for a distance of 20 nautical miles in flat water without a headwind."
So I would need a minimum of 5kts for 4 hours, and that is a tall order. I've sailed back from Catalina at speeds over 15kts for more than 2 hours, but if I add two crew (300lbs) then the jump to 10 kts takes significantly more wind. The last thing I want to do is add a crew or two that never leave the boat.
"Current Sunshine", a 43' trimaran that participates here (and appears to be for sale now) has been successful as an electric conversion. But it takes a larger tri like this one to carry the extra weight of an electric system without significantly impacting sailing performance.
In my opinion, you need to go big to combine the performance benefits of a multihull with the operational benefits of electric drive without making serious compromises on either side.
Fair winds,
Eric
Marina del Rey, CA
--- In electricboats@yahoogroups.com, Michael Mccomb <mccomb.michael@...> wrote:
>
> hi all, i am REALLY interested in regen and came to the conclusion some time ago that this was just barely possible with current technology and a monohull..... the prospects are somewhat better in an appropriately loaded and designed catamaran but now my focus has moved to trimarans.... seems that on youtube one can frequently find tris moving along at speeds that are never seen on cats and that these speeds would fairly easily provide a good deal of regeneration..... so i'm thinking that the reduced drag of a tri and this regeneration MIGHT get me to where i want to be which is pretty much fossil fuel free.... anyone have any thoughts on this approach?
>
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